Monday, September 14, 2015

Once again the inability to maintain consistency has been Indy Eleven's downfall. That combined without being able to find a way to quickly adapt to our oppositions formation pretty much killed any chance we had of taking points in San Antonio.

Considering the Scorpions had to play a game the previous Wednesday, it was Indy Eleven who appeared to lack sharpness for long periods of the game. Add to that little or no service in front of goal, and when we did get opportunities we failed to convert any.

San Antonio's starting formation seemed to be the most frustrating problem for Indy, with 5 across the back and 4 in midfield, it was very difficult for Indy to find a path to the Scorpions goal.

The Eleven were reduced to trying to chip and pop balls over the midfield and defense in the hopes of finding some penetration, the best chance probably fell to Don Smart in the 9th minute, but his shot from the right side of the box was pushed away by the hand of Fernandes and the Scorpions defense reclaimed possession.

Apart from Dane Richards flashing a ball in front of goal that nobody could mop up some ten minutes later, Indy could provide little else in a first half that saw a near stalemate between both sides, until in the dying minutes of the half San Antonio were awarded a penalty for a foul on Chavez by Keith Cardona.

Indy Eleven's failure to close down Omar Cummings in front of our 18 allowed Cummings to pop a ball over the defense to the advancing Chavez, Keith Cardona tried to come out and gather the ball but only succeeded in going through the attacker. Cardona was lucky to escape a red or even a yellow, luckily for Indy the referee kept his cards in pocket.

Rafael Castillo took a fake strike before hitting the ball and slotted the ball left past Cardona. This was a crucial goal for San Antonio, and disastrous for Indy right before the half. As rare as our chances had been to create anything, it was hard to see how we would be able to get the win we badly needed.

Indy started the second half with renewed intent and aggression and edged out the Scorpions for possession for 20 to 25 minutes. Multiple chances in front of goal presented themselves but again we couldn't finish them off. As it started to look like Indy were gaining the upper hand and San Antonio may finally be tiring, Indy was dealt the killer blow.

The 5-4-1 of San Antonio played a high line throughout the game, and there was always going to be the danger of the fast counter the more Indy pressed them for the goal they badly needed. Billy Forbes entered the game and brought a new and fresh dimension to the Scorpions attack in the 63rd minute.

In the 72nd minute Forbes brought the ball down the left side for San Antonio, drawing three of our defenders towards him he threaded a pass between them all which found the advancing Castillo, Jaime Frias was badly placed to do anything about the finish and Castillo slid the ball straight past Cardona to make it 2-0>

That was game over! The closest Indy came to equalizing before that point was a Dane Richards shot off the upright from inside the 18. Indy were just not going to score tonight and at two goals down it was highly unlikely for us that even a point would be gained in the remaining twenty or so minutes.

It would be easy for me to say we just were not the same team that played against Jacksonville, but there was more to it than that. We always seem to have problems when we come up against a formation we don't know how to deal with, there isn't really a plan B for Indy. We only had to make one change with Kyle Hyland missing, but unfortunately for us it seems there are certain key players in the starting lineup that we just can't replace if they are out, especially in defense if you look at recent games with Norales missing and now Hyland.

We have a multitude of midfielders some of whom can play in a forward role, but we have no clinical finishers who are strikers with the exception of possibly Lacroix on the roster and we are thin on quality defenders, if we can't start our best back four we invariably have issues, definitely something that needs to be remedied before 2016.

Mathematically we are still not out of it of course, but I can repeat that every week. Consistency is the key and we just have never been able to find any in 2015. We still can say we are only 5 points back from the top 4, but each week we have less and less games to breach that gap. Add to that most teams have at least one game in hand over us, Ft Lauderdale has two, and with Minnesota winning at the weekend, it becomes increasingly harder to see how we can make the Playoffs. We are at the point of hoping many of the teams above us have a disastrous end to the season.

Of course we should never give up, but as mentioned after defeats to Ft Lauderdale and Minnesota, we really need to start preparing for next year, and again learn from our current situation and make it better.

The most important thing is for everyone to stick behind the team, we have seven more games to go and four of them are at home, keep turning up and keep supporting our boys, every game is important and they need us behind them!!! INDY FOREVER!

7 comments:

INDY FOREVER indeed Mr. Shambles. I love Dane Richards ability to get in behind the defense, but I'd like to see him improve his finishing and decision-making once in that position.

I feel bad for Jaime getting thrown under on that last goal - if you notice there is a player making a run for the back post. Albeit he is 15 yards out, the closer player is the bigger threat, but there didn't appear to be anyone to mark either. Unfortunately, Jaime took the worse route of not sticking with the bigger threat in favor of being in no-man's land.

Our lack of results is surprising more than anything - is our roster that much weaker than other teams? Is our strategy poor? Has our FO not set us up for success? Find out next game on "The Life and Times of an Indy Eleven Supporter"!

Unfortunately I don't think he is cut out to be a defender, lacks concentration, and mentioned in earlier blogs would be a better player if he was re trained as a wide midfielder. Not good enough quality for the important games.